Catch me if you can! —

Pirate Bay cofounder to be deported from Cambodia

TPB cofounders continue to avoid serving prison sentences.

Officials have said they will deport Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm from Cambodia, where he has been living for the last four years, but have not said where he will be sent or when they will deport him.

The Swedish developer, who was arrested on Sunday in Phnom Pehn, was convicted along with three others connected with The Pirate Bay. They were convicted by a Swedish court in 2009 on the charge of “assisting in making copyrighted content available,” and were ordered to collectively pay over $4 million. In February 2012, the Supreme Court of Sweden declined to hear the case.

"We will deport him based on our immigration law," police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said, according to Reuters. "We just know we will deport him. As to which country, that would be up to the Swedish side," he said.

The news agency notes that the two countries do not currently have an extradition treaty in place.

Local Cambodian media suggests that his deportation will happen sometime in the near future. “We will use the Immigration Law against him to deport him out of our country and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng will sign on the deportation request letter from the police commissioner soon,” Phal told the Phnom Pehn Post.

“We will have to just deport him, wherever he goes, we don’t know, but he has to be out of Cambodia,” Phal added.

Previously, a police spokesperson in Cambodia told the AFP news agency that Svartholm had been arrested “at the request of the Swedish government for a crime related to information technology,” suggesting that Cambodian officials may not be entirely clear why they’re arresting The Pirate Bay founder.

Swedish media (Google Translate) reported last month that of the millions due in the case, only 333,000 Swedish kronor ($50,000) had been recovered. All four of the co-defendants, including the three cofounders, now live outside of Sweden—but the legal noose around them appears to be tightening.

The company’s former CEO, Carl Lundström—the only one who has paid anything thus far—served four months in prison and now lives in Switzerland. Fredrik Neij reportedly lives in Laos, although his passport was recently revoked by the nearest Swedish embassy in Thailand. The most visible of the group, Peter Sunde, who is also the co-founder of Flattr, a micropayment system, has been the most outspoken, and appears to be bouncing around Europe on the conference circuit. (I last saw him in person in December 2011 in Kosovo.) In a tweet, Sunde said Svartholm is "apparently OK."

In the meantime, a hacker group known as NullCrew has targeted Cambodian government websites, claiming to have taken over the site belonging to the Cambodian Army.

They've got it all wrong. TPB is actually a dedicated community of good samaritans which tirelessly compile directories of metadata about copyrighted works which are being distributed over the Internet, in many cases without a license. They provide this service on free and equitable terms to any and all interested parties, including rightsholders and law enforcement agencies around the world. They couldn't make it much easier to investigate copyright infringement on the Internet.

They've got it all wrong. TPB is actually a dedicated community of good samaritans which tirelessly compile directories of metadata about copyrighted works which are being distributed over the Internet, in many cases without a license. They provide this service on free and equitable terms to any and all interested parties, including rightsholders and law enforcement agencies around the world. They couldn't make it much easier to investigate copyright infringement on the Internet.

For what it's worth, the Cambodian police will arrest anyone who appears to have the slightest bit of cash and who has done something that somebody thinks is out of bounds. In this case, Svartholm clearly has access to money and the reputation of the local cops would be enhanced by "cooperating" with interpol.

The usual scam is to lock up the accused in one of the worst jails you can imagine while charging friends/family/lawyers to visit. This can go on for months until friends/family raise enough money to buy the prisoner's way out the back door. Those without access to cash rot in jail.

Agrippa (his khmer440 username) is fairly visible, so buying his way out might be prohibitively expensive, but you can be sure the Cambodian cops are squeezing him for cash to improve his prison cell conditions.

This is as nasty as it gets: corrupt Swedish politicians - US politicians getting paid off by the media mafia lobby - ok i did not have any expectations when it comes to Cambodia (where you can buy counterfeit stuff at each corner anyways).

Those guys should get a medal for having done what they have been doing instead we all just look at this tragedy unfolding. I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that a piece of democratic sense and courage gets thrown to the dogs for a few stupid & boring pieces of music and movies the world would be better off w/o anyways.

I am really pissed off by this whole thing ... and for me it s just a reason to not ever give a penny to those scheming behind closed doors.

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

Fair enough. It still doesn't change anything. Copyright is still obsolete.

It's the copyright that is the problem - it s never done anything for anybody apart from making greedy people greedier. Ask any real artist - copyright is a commercial invention to make money out of thin air for those that have no morale sense and are greedy (and usually have never created anything themselves).

This is as nasty as it gets: corrupt Swedish politicians - US politicians getting paid off by the media mafia lobby - ok i did not have any expectations when it comes to Cambodia (where you can buy counterfeit stuff at each corner anyways).

Those guys should get a medal for having done what they have been doing instead we all just look at this tragedy unfolding. I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that a piece of democratic sense and courage gets thrown to the dogs for a few stupid & boring pieces of music and movies the world would be better off w/o anyways.

I am really pissed off by this whole thing ... and for me it s just a reason to not ever give a penny to those scheming behind closed doors.

And at the same time I am so sad to see Gotfrid going down this road.

Might want to read about this guy's actions in Cambodia. Cambodia did not care about him or have an extradition treaty of any sort. But this guy started causing trouble, owing a lot of people money and falling into a spiralling drug addiction. At a certain point he became more trouble than he was worth, so they found an excuse to get rid of him.

He really brought this on himself, no corruption or conspiracy needed. Go read the article about this on Torrent Freak if you want to know some of the backstory(there is even worse info out there than that somewhat sympathetic take, btw).

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

The government's job is to serve the people. Part of that is creating laws that protect the citizenry from deviants that disrupt the peace and prosperity. However, it rarely fulfills that function, electing to protect the most effluent people and their interests.

There's also the false assumption that "corrective" action is to make sure that the crime isn't repeated by applying punitive measures, despite the fact that the real solution is to correct the inequalities which encouraged the deviant behavior in the first place and that deviance is actually a symptom of inequality.

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

Fair enough. It still doesn't change anything. Copyright is still obsolete.

It's the copyright that is the problem - it s never done anything for anybody apart from making greedy people greedier. Ask any real artist - copyright is a commercial invention to make money out of thin air for those that have no morale sense and are greedy (and usually have never created anything themselves).

I was not aware that wanting to make a living on your work was considered 'greed' now. Also, is the FSF 'greedy' since they designed the GPL, and the GPL relies entirely upon copyright?

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

The government's job is to serve the people. Part of that is creating laws that protect the citizenry from deviants that disrupt the peace and prosperity. However, it rarely fulfills that function, electing to protect the most effluent people and their interests.

There's also the false assumption that "corrective" action is to make sure that the crime isn't repeated by applying punitive measures, despite the fact that the real solution is to correct the inequalities which encouraged the deviant behavior in the first place and that deviance is actually a symptom of inequality.

<sarcasm>That's right! I downloaded stuff illegally when I was a teenager, not because it was free and easy, but because The Man was holding me down! If only I had felt more equal, I would have chosen to pay rather than to steal.

<reductio ad absurdum>And that guy who murdered his cheating wife, if only he had felt more equal in her love life, she wouldn't have had to die!

</reductio ad absurdum></sarcasm>

In all seriousness, you're essentially saying that the reason people infringe copyright is because they can't afford to do it the legal way. To which I say, "bullshit."

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

Fair enough. It still doesn't change anything. Copyright is still obsolete.

It's the copyright that is the problem - it s never done anything for anybody apart from making greedy people greedier. Ask any real artist - copyright is a commercial invention to make money out of thin air for those that have no morale sense and are greedy (and usually have never created anything themselves).

I was not aware that wanting to make a living on your work was considered 'greed' now. Also, is the FSF 'greedy' since they designed the GPL, and the GPL relies entirely upon copyright?

Oh how wrong you are, sir. Artists love having their work ripped off! They love it even more when the party doing the ripping makes money with those knockoffs. Any artist who tells you otherwise has obviously sold out to The Man.

I love the amount of money people are expected to pay in any case involving copyrights.

With most people,it never matches the crime,and I get it's supposed to make a message....but it just fails miserably. It's like having a sibling tell you you have to give them one gazillion dollars to play with their toys.

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

The government's job is to serve the people. Part of that is creating laws that protect the citizenry from deviants that disrupt the peace and prosperity. However, it rarely fulfills that function, electing to protect the most effluent people and their interests.

There's also the false assumption that "corrective" action is to make sure that the crime isn't repeated by applying punitive measures, despite the fact that the real solution is to correct the inequalities which encouraged the deviant behavior in the first place and that deviance is actually a symptom of inequality.

<sarcasm>That's right! I downloaded stuff illegally when I was a teenager, not because it was free and easy, but because The Man was holding me down! If only I had felt more equal, I would have chosen to pay rather than to steal.

<reductio ad absurdum>And that guy who murdered his cheating wife, if only he had felt more equal in her love life, she wouldn't have had to die!

</reductio ad absurdum></sarcasm>

In all seriousness, you're essentially saying that the reason people infringe copyright is because they can't afford to do it the legal way. To which I say, "bullshit."

Who said anything about copyright? I was talking about deviant behavior. However, it still applies to infringement (it's not just people downloading digital media by the way), if you want to broach that topic. We have a problem with unequal access to knowledge and culture because of copyright and unequal freedom to create new works. Copyright is biased towards the corporate content industry, and inhibits the rest of us, so that they can have a monopoly on culture. It also goes against the very nature of all living things, which is to share knowledge and experience freely among their own kind. Parents pass on their experiences and knowledge to their children, we pass on our stories, and we pass on our cultural identity. Copyright is the opposite of that. It turns ideas into property, which allows some to "own" more ideas than others and that creates inequality. There's more to inequality than just money and there's a lot of it in copyright.

I love the amount of money people are expected to pay in any case involving copyrights.

With most people,it never matches the crime,and I get it's supposed to make a message....but it just fails miserably. It's like having a sibling tell you you have to give them one gazillion dollars to play with their toys.

Yeah, people think it's supposed to "send a message", but it's actually supposed to balance the damage caused by infringement. However, no one has been able to provide proof of real, measurable harm, so they award ridiculous awards against individuals using a law that was drafted in a time when individual infringement didn't exist. It was actually meant to stop publishers from ripping off other publishers because they were the only ones with the means to do so. Now we have the internet and laws are completely ineffectual in preventing people from doing what the internet was designed to do: Transfer data from computer to computer blind to the content of the traffic it's transporting.

This is as nasty as it gets: corrupt Swedish politicians - US politicians getting paid off by the media mafia lobby - ok i did not have any expectations when it comes to Cambodia (where you can buy counterfeit stuff at each corner anyways).

Those guys should get a medal for having done what they have been doing instead we all just look at this tragedy unfolding. I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that a piece of democratic sense and courage gets thrown to the dogs for a few stupid & boring pieces of music and movies the world would be better off w/o anyways.

I am really pissed off by this whole thing ... and for me it s just a reason to not ever give a penny to those scheming behind closed doors.

And at the same time I am so sad to see Gotfrid going down this road.

Might want to read about this guy's actions in Cambodia. Cambodia did not care about him or have an extradition treaty of any sort. But this guy started causing trouble, owing a lot of people money and falling into a spiralling drug addiction. At a certain point he became more trouble than he was worth, so they found an excuse to get rid of him.

He really brought this on himself, no corruption or conspiracy needed. Go read the article about this on Torrent Freak if you want to know some of the backstory(there is even worse info out there than that somewhat sympathetic take, btw).

I did not know this. I am at work so cannot read the article on him, care to post a reader's digest condensed version?

This is as nasty as it gets: corrupt Swedish politicians - US politicians getting paid off by the media mafia lobby - ok i did not have any expectations when it comes to Cambodia (where you can buy counterfeit stuff at each corner anyways).

Those guys should get a medal for having done what they have been doing instead we all just look at this tragedy unfolding. I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that a piece of democratic sense and courage gets thrown to the dogs for a few stupid & boring pieces of music and movies the world would be better off w/o anyways.

I am really pissed off by this whole thing ... and for me it s just a reason to not ever give a penny to those scheming behind closed doors.

And at the same time I am so sad to see Gotfrid going down this road.

Might want to read about this guy's actions in Cambodia. Cambodia did not care about him or have an extradition treaty of any sort. But this guy started causing trouble, owing a lot of people money and falling into a spiralling drug addiction. At a certain point he became more trouble than he was worth, so they found an excuse to get rid of him.

He really brought this on himself, no corruption or conspiracy needed. Go read the article about this on Torrent Freak if you want to know some of the backstory(there is even worse info out there than that somewhat sympathetic take, btw).

I did not know this. I am at work so cannot read the article on him, care to post a reader's digest condensed version?

Also at work, so in the same boat. Basically just what I said. He got there, the authorities ignored him due to lack of extradition treaties with Sweden(why he picked the place). Got a job with a UK online casino operator, spiralled into drug use so bad that at one point he apparently was found weeping under the conference table during a executive meeting. Owes some money around, was causing problems at the local expat bar, finally the authorities had had enough and just arrested him.

Its not like he has a right to be there, and he failed to keep a low profile, which is how you get away with it. When it becomes cheaper to stick him on a plane back home than it is to clean up after his messes, an extradition treaty becomes irrelevent.

Also at work, so in the same boat. Basically just what I said. He got there, the authorities ignored him due to lack of extradition treaties with Sweden(why he picked the place). Got a job with a UK online casino operator, spiralled into drug use so bad that at one point he apparently was found weeping under the conference table during a executive meeting. Owes some money around, was causing problems at the local expat bar, finally the authorities had had enough and just arrested him.

Its not like he has a right to be there, and he failed to keep a low profile, which is how you get away with it. When it becomes cheaper to stick him on a plane back home than it is to clean up after his messes, an extradition treaty becomes irrelevent.

When I couldn't see a bright orange link in your text, I assumed there must be some sort of mistake and started wildly clicking all over your post, but to no avail! Aghast, I thought to myself "He couldn't possibly just be repeating what he said in the previous post, with all the authority of a man who must have been under that very conference table as our protagonist wept himself into a frenzy."

Anyhow, whenever you want us to start taking you seriously, do be a good chap and post some sources ;-)

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

The government's job is to serve the people. Part of that is creating laws that protect the citizenry from deviants that disrupt the peace and prosperity. However, it rarely fulfills that function, electing to protect the most effluent people and their interests.

There's also the false assumption that "corrective" action is to make sure that the crime isn't repeated by applying punitive measures, despite the fact that the real solution is to correct the inequalities which encouraged the deviant behavior in the first place and that deviance is actually a symptom of inequality.

<sarcasm>That's right! I downloaded stuff illegally when I was a teenager, not because it was free and easy, but because The Man was holding me down! If only I had felt more equal, I would have chosen to pay rather than to steal.

<reductio ad absurdum>And that guy who murdered his cheating wife, if only he had felt more equal in her love life, she wouldn't have had to die!

</reductio ad absurdum></sarcasm>

In all seriousness, you're essentially saying that the reason people infringe copyright is because they can't afford to do it the legal way. To which I say, "bullshit."

Who said anything about copyright? I was talking about deviant behavior. However, it still applies to infringement (it's not just people downloading digital media by the way), if you want to broach that topic. We have a problem with unequal access to knowledge and culture because of copyright and unequal freedom to create new works. Copyright is biased towards the corporate content industry, and inhibits the rest of us, so that they can have a monopoly on culture. It also goes against the very nature of all living things, which is to share knowledge and experience freely among their own kind. Parents pass on their experiences and knowledge to their children, we pass on our stories, and we pass on our cultural identity. Copyright is the opposite of that. It turns ideas into property, which allows some to "own" more ideas than others and that creates inequality. There's more to inequality than just money and there's a lot of it in copyright.

My personal opinion is to respect what the artist or creator wants. If he/she doesn't want you to give away copies of their work away for free then we shouldn't do it.

There's nothing stopping you from producing something similar and give it away free. For example, instead of copying and giving away copies of Star Trek episodes, why not create your own sci-fi TV series and give it away for free?

Or are you talking about fan fiction? My personal opinion is that most artists/creators should allow this as long as the fan fiction is clearly marked as fan fiction.

A government's job is to enforce its laws, passe comments notwithstanding.

Throwing a criminal in jail won't end crime. The point is to take punitive and corrective action, not to bring peace on earth.

increasingly, governments are beholden to commercial interests. laws are set up to protect profit, not citizens. socially destructive policies then masquerade as punitive and corrective action.

Pivoting non-response. Your view of the moral correctness of a law should be irrespective to its enforcement, and even the efficacy of the enforcement. Law enforcement's task is to enforce the law. If you want the law changed, address your legislature.

Also at work, so in the same boat. Basically just what I said. He got there, the authorities ignored him due to lack of extradition treaties with Sweden(why he picked the place). Got a job with a UK online casino operator, spiralled into drug use so bad that at one point he apparently was found weeping under the conference table during a executive meeting. Owes some money around, was causing problems at the local expat bar, finally the authorities had had enough and just arrested him.

Its not like he has a right to be there, and he failed to keep a low profile, which is how you get away with it. When it becomes cheaper to stick him on a plane back home than it is to clean up after his messes, an extradition treaty becomes irrelevent.

When I couldn't see a bright orange link in your text, I assumed there must be some sort of mistake and started wildly clicking all over your post, but to no avail! Aghast, I thought to myself "He couldn't possibly just be repeating what he said in the previous post, with all the authority of a man who must have been under that very conference table as our protagonist wept himself into a frenzy."

Anyhow, whenever you want us to start taking you seriously, do be a good chap and post some sources ;-)

I told you where to find it in my first post. Its up on the main page of Torrent Freak, or was last night. I'm not going to provide a link like that from work, sorry, but hey, there is this really cool site called Google that will turn up *lots* of articles about him. Feel free to corroborate if you wish(I advise it, he's lived an...interesting life over there), or just disregard if you don't generally wish whatever narrative you have about the guy in your head disrupted.

Also at work, so in the same boat. Basically just what I said. He got there, the authorities ignored him due to lack of extradition treaties with Sweden(why he picked the place). Got a job with a UK online casino operator, spiralled into drug use so bad that at one point he apparently was found weeping under the conference table during a executive meeting. Owes some money around, was causing problems at the local expat bar, finally the authorities had had enough and just arrested him.

Its not like he has a right to be there, and he failed to keep a low profile, which is how you get away with it. When it becomes cheaper to stick him on a plane back home than it is to clean up after his messes, an extradition treaty becomes irrelevent.

When I couldn't see a bright orange link in your text, I assumed there must be some sort of mistake and started wildly clicking all over your post, but to no avail! Aghast, I thought to myself "He couldn't possibly just be repeating what he said in the previous post, with all the authority of a man who must have been under that very conference table as our protagonist wept himself into a frenzy."

Anyhow, whenever you want us to start taking you seriously, do be a good chap and post some sources ;-)

Also at work, so in the same boat. Basically just what I said. He got there, the authorities ignored him due to lack of extradition treaties with Sweden(why he picked the place). Got a job with a UK online casino operator, spiralled into drug use so bad that at one point he apparently was found weeping under the conference table during a executive meeting. Owes some money around, was causing problems at the local expat bar, finally the authorities had had enough and just arrested him.

Its not like he has a right to be there, and he failed to keep a low profile, which is how you get away with it. When it becomes cheaper to stick him on a plane back home than it is to clean up after his messes, an extradition treaty becomes irrelevent.

When I couldn't see a bright orange link in your text, I assumed there must be some sort of mistake and started wildly clicking all over your post, but to no avail! Aghast, I thought to myself "He couldn't possibly just be repeating what he said in the previous post, with all the authority of a man who must have been under that very conference table as our protagonist wept himself into a frenzy."

Anyhow, whenever you want us to start taking you seriously, do be a good chap and post some sources ;-)

It's ironically funny that they chose to escape the sentence handed down to them in a free and democratic society (allegedly) by running headlong into a stinking third-world cock-fighting pit of crap and corruption (allegedly).

It's ironically funny that they chose to escape the sentence handed down to them in a free and democratic society (allegedly) by running headlong into a stinking third-world cock-fighting pit of crap and corruption (allegedly).